Bike/Hike Culra Lodge Bothy

In a blatant attempt to muscle my way in to the limelight on Jake’s website I have written a brief, and probably not very accurate, report of our first attempt at using bikes to access some interesting walking country in September 2004. The plan was to travel down to Dalwhinnie and make an ascent of Ben Alder and other munros in the area as time allowed. By accessing the Culra Lodge bothy by bike we could save the time and effort of walking in along the valley bottoms and have more time in the hills.

Taking part in this jaunt were Jake Hannah, John Kennedy and Simon Buckley. Our bikes were a mix of mountain bike styles allowing us to compare their suitability for this type of work. We didn’t consider taking any road bikes as we knew the tracks were potentially very rough. Jake brought his hardtail Specialized Rockhopper, I used my early ‘90’s rigid Cannondale and Simon was issued with my full sus Orange for the occasion. We transported them on my excellent new Pendle tow bar mounted bike rack on the back of my old Vauxhall. This gave some idea of our priorities as the bikes were worth several times more than the car.

We set out from Aberdeen early on Saturday for the relatively short run down to Dalwhinnie. My preferred route up to Huntly, along Speyside and passing through Dufftown and Aberlour then down the A9 had us at Dalwhinnie Station by mid-morning.

After the obligatory faffing at the car we set off mid-morning and were soon cruising along a very smooth Land Rover track past several fancy shooting lodges. We met a group also using bikes to access the bothy but they were clearly better walkers than cyclists and we quickly left them behind. With the bothy in sight the smooth road abruptly ended and the trail narrowed down to a rough, boggy track. Rather than take the muddy footpath to the bothy we chose to remain on the track around the edge of Loch Pattack which turned out to be a minor error as the water level was quite high. Where the track was under water we had to lift the bikes up and down chest height peat hags to get around but it was all good character-building stuff. A picturesque suspension bridge provided a good photo opportunity and we were at the bothy for lunch.

John crossing the Allt a'Chaoil-reidhe with a heavily loaded bike

With the bikes and overnight kit stashed at the bothy we set out to climb Ben Alder with day sacks. The clear and breezy morning gradually deteriorated and the usual rain set in. Still, it takes more than a bit of rain to deter the FA and we made steady progress. A fairly major burn crossing had us casting about for a bit to find a place where we could cross and stay dry. My plan of boots off and wade through was roundly rejected. Once across, we gained the ridge and it was a stiff but straightforward climb to the top. We had bagged the munro by mid afternoon and traversed the plateau before dropping down to a saddle just above Loch a Bhealaich Bheithe. Crossing to the far side of the valley we avoided the burn crossing on the return to the main glen and were back in the bothy before dusk.

A very comfortable night in the bothy, enlivened by several bottles of cheap plonk, saw us rested and slightly hungover the next day. We set out to ascend Beinn Bheoil in a steady rain that came on within a hundred metres of setting off. Re-tracing our steps of the previous day up to the saddle above the loch we then made our way along the ridge to the summit of Beinn Bheoil enjoying views of Loch Erich through the cloud. On reaching the summit we didn’t dawdle and carried along the ridge before dropping down to the valley floor.

On arrival at the bothy we loaded the bikes which somehow didn’t seem any lighter and set off. Taking the footpath this time we avoided actually carrying the bikes on our return journey and once on the made track had an easy spin back to Dalwhnnie.

This trip proved to us that bike-hiking is the way to go where the trailhead is some distance from the area you want to access. The extra carrying capacity of the bikes meant we were able to easily pack in luxuries that would normally be left behind on grounds of weight. In our case this was mainly extra food and drink. Another way of looking at it, for people who are more hard core than us, is that using a bike can extend the range and duration of your expedition in the given time frame. We could easily have left Aberdeen on Friday night, made the bothy by 2200 and been up at dawn on Saturday. This would have given us two full days in the hills rather than the one and a half we had.

The performance of the bikes pretty much confirmed what we were expecting. The rigid bike performed adequately enough and the full suspension machine, although comfortable at first, was not really suited to the smooth tracks due to its stretched out position and slack angles. So the pick of the bunch, for the first and only time was Jake’s Rockhopper. The hardtail layout allows a proper rack for carrying panniers and the forks take out the worst of the trail with the marginal weight increase over the hardtail making no difference for this kind of utility riding. Finally, it was thanks to the charitable Mountain Bothies Association that we had such a great place to stay. I recommend joining this very worthwhile association to anyone with an interest in the wild places of the UK.

Posted: 10/04/06